by John Ewing
April 17, 2020
Schools are closed across the country. In the past few weeks, pundits and other "education experts" have opined about the disastrous effect on students. Some have offered absurd suggestions, such as holding back all students by a grade. But perhaps the most scandalously foolish piece of writing appeared in the April 16 NY Times with the title The Coronavirus's Lost Generation. (The next day the title was replaced with the less sensational "50 million kids can't attend school: What happens to them?")
The editorial began by reminding readers that students lose two months of learning each year over the summer—a bit of oft-repeated education folklore. It then cites a study by the Northwest Evaluation Association that proclaims the COVID-19 school closings will be far worse. Students might lose 30% of an entire year in reading and up to 100% of a year in mathematics! The study is replete with fabricated graphs to illustrate these devastating losses (although the graphs are missing actual data points or explanations). Its projections "are based on growth rates calculated from actual data," but no actual data are included or indicated. In fact, the slim study seems to rely primarily on "extending" what everyone knows about summer vacation loss. Methodology is missing. Does the NY Times really want to base its editorials on this kind of evidence?
Read more:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnewing/2020/04/17/teachers-in-the-pandemic/#dd3874864640